Re-envisioning the Nocturnal Sublime: On the Ethics and Aesthetics of Nighttime Lighting

Abstract

Grounded in the practical problem of light pollution, this paper examines the aesthetic dimensions of urban and natural darkness, and its impact on how we perceive and evaluate nighttime lighting. It is argued that competing notions of the sublime, manifested through artificial illumination and the natural night sky respectively, reinforce a geographical dualism between cities and wilderness. To challenge this spatial differentiation, recent work in urban-focused environmental ethics, as well as environmental aesthetics, are utilized to envision the moral and aesthetic possibilities of a new urban nocturnal sublime. Through articulating the aspirations and constraints of a new urban nocturnal experience, this paper elucidates the axiological dimensions of light pollution, draws attention to nightscapes as a site of importance for urban-focused (environmental) philosophy, and examines the enduring relevance of the sublime for both the design of nighttime illumination and the appreciation of the night sky.

Who speaks for the night?

“…[43] As an environmental issue, light pollution clearly relates to environmental ethics and aesthetics. [44] It has been argued that the night sky as is a scenic and cultural asset against which exist biases that cause conventional economics to misjudge its intrinsic value, [31,45] and public willingness to pay for interventions designed to reduce light pollution and improve views of the night sky is considerable. [46] For these reasons, I conclude that humanity assigns some degree of inherent value to natural darkness and night skies that legitimizes the evaluation of this resource in the RoN framework.…”

Design for values and the city

“…While useful efforts, an alternative approach is to adopt a refined DfV perspective, highlighting those valuable features of contemporary nightscapes that require preserving and fostering. For this, I have proposed elsewhere that darkness should be understood as valuable for contemporary urban nightscapes, and as something through which claims to value both emerge and are fostered or hindered (Stone 2018(Stone , 2019(Stone , 2021. Instead of diving into meta-ethical debates regarding environmental values, we can position darkness as something by which, or through which, values can be fostered or promoted.…”

Energy Justice Across Borders

“…To explore values relevant to the LED transition, we take a critical look at the recent work by Stone (2017Stone ( , 2018aStone ( , b, 2019. In particular, we examine Stone's 'The Value of Darkness: A Moral Framework for Urban Nighttime Lighting' (2018b), which explores the landscape of environmental values relevant to nighttime lighting.…”